On the 21st of August 2021, early morning 5 AM with a batch of 24 students and 2 drivers, we were off to Pavaguda Tumkur, Karnataka for a visit to the 400 MW Tata solar farm.
Karnataka Renewable power development corporation has a 2050 MW solar power generation capacity at Pavaguda. Total Solar operated 500 MW of the 2050 MW but has outsourced 2 nos. 50 MW plants to third parties. Thanks to the CAN dept, Surekha madam and Gopal, the industry visit was managed at very short notice.
Pavagada solar park, also known as Shakti Sthala, is a 2GW solar complex developed in Pavagada, Tumkur district, approximately 180km from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The developers increased the capacity by 50MW.
The project was developed by Karnataka Solar Power Development Corporation Limited (KSPDCL), a joint venture between Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL), with an estimated investment of Rs16.5bn ($2.5bn) - www.power-technology.com
A Clarification of MW and MWh - A megawatt (MW) is a unit of electric capacity or electric load. A MW is equal to 1,000 kilowatts (kW). ... A MWh is 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh).
An MWh is the amount of electricity generated by one megawatt (MW) electric generator operating or producing electricity for one hour. www.nj.gov
53 sqkm of solar panels was what we were promised at Pavaguda and it was very true. After reaching the plant at sharp 10 AM and security procedures etc, we were divided into 2 groups of 13 and 12, the Tata staff explained the features of the total Pavaguda complex covering 13,600 acres of arid land. (Click here for the link to a case study).
Usually, field visits involve sound, noise, big machinery, huge buildings, a lot of employees, cars trucks etc... As different from common physical perception, here is something different - silent, no noise, no heavy movement of trucks etc. Even though we were between the long rows of Chinese make solar panels, as it was slightly cloudy, we spent almost 2 hours outside listening to Mr Reddy, the operations chief and the extremely friendly Tata Solar technical staff explaining the finer details to us. (Pic shows the Alliance School of Business Bangalore students and faculty members with Tata Solar staff at Pavaguda).
Each section generates 12.5 MW and 4 such sections comprise a block of 50 MW. There are a total of 10 blocks. Each panel of 330 W capacity is joined in series which is then joined together at the junction box near the panels, the DC is collected and sent to the Inverters through underground cables that convert the DC to AC. Each block has a capacity of 50 MW. The AC is stepped up to 440 kV and sent to the Karnataka Power Corporation grid. Other players at the Pavaguda area may have a different way to collect, integrate, convert and step up the power.
For 20 Aug, in Block 18, there were 16 inverters in service with 2,28,510 modules in service.
Inverter Generation - 324.723 MWh
Gross Generation - 323.488 MWh
Net Generation - 320.688 MWh
highest Generation - 425.856 MWh
Performance ratio (PR) is stated as per cent and describes the relationship between the actual and theoretical energy outputs of the PV plant, 84.58%
Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) is the total solar radiation incident on a horizontal surface, 5.06 KWh/sqm
Global Tilted Irradiance (GTI) represents irradiation that falls on a tilted surface, 5.1 KWh/sqm
On discussions with the Tata officials, we came to know that safety is paramount in the plant. They have not lost even a single day due to an accident, except for one accident that happened to an outsourced agency. This high track record of safety is a highly-priced treasure for the plant.
The daily solar irradiance at the plant is accurately measured with advanced instrumentation besides the wind velocity through a wind gauge and rainfall through a rain gauge. Being at approximately 14 deg N latitude, Pavaguda receives better solar irradiance than Kochi or the equator. Badlam in Rajasthan India having the world's largest solar farm, 2250 MW, is near the Tropic of Cancer and the solar irradiance in summer can go up to 6.5 KWh/sqm daily. Yesterday, being cloudy, the solar radiance was at a low of about 3-4 KWh/sqm.
2050 MW solar power as the output from Pavaguda has zero Carbon footprint, green energy. Bangalore city has a daily demand of 2000 MW and Karnataka 6000 MW. Humanity is dependent on electric power, our dependence is only going to increase with each passing day. Understanding and managing the generation and distribution of this green power is of great importance to modern-day managers, to stand out among the crowd.
The cleaning of the panels is very important as dust on the panels can reduce the panel generation efficiency and power generated. Water is used on some of the panels, as this offers extra employment to the locals whose land has been used for the plant, taken on lease starting at Rs 21,000 per carte with 5% appreciation every 2 years. This works perfectly fine for the farmers, but the company feels this may not be plausible in the long run, given the crashing tariffs for solar power touching Rs 1.99/ KWh (unit) globally. The water on the ground leads to wild grass growth needing frequent pruning. Some blocks use mechanical brushes to clean the panel.
Artificial Intelligence, Automation etc. may help improve efficiency and lower costs but negatively impacts local employment. Considering the downward pressure on the price of power, this is inevitable. As Peter Diamandis in his books "Abundance" and "The Future is faster than you think" mentions, there will be an abundance of power coming out of human ingenuity and innovative mind and this is going to hit us very soon, maybe in the next thirty years.
Pavaguda was chosen for this plant as it was an arid land with low rainfall. But over the past two years, the rainfall pattern has changed for the better. We could see little wild grass on the ground around the panels and the plant authorities were finding it difficult to trim this. We do not know whether our suggestion of growing creeper vegetables, as is being done in the 50 MW Kochi airport would be taken up by the authorities. This suggestion is not that innovative too.
We finished our visit by 1.30 pm and were on our way back home after a good lunch in Pavaguda town by 3.30 pm reaching Bangalore by 8 PM.
Great learning of a very important factor of the future of human beings on planet earth, green energy. Being very technical and located in faraway places, most educational institutions skip such visits. Understanding the gravity of the situation, there could not be a more important plant to visit, given that Pavaguda solar farm is the third-largest in the world.
George
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